Electric and hybrid aircrafts and/or other high performance vehicles require high performance batteries. For aircrafts, light weight battery packs with high safety standards are imperative. Typical battery packs are rectangular and take up a large volume of space within the aircraft or vehicle. Obtaining enough energy for an aircraft would generally require a large number of batteries, occupying a large volume and adding significant weight making them unsuited for aircrafts.
Pouch battery cells are commercially available and offer energy dense battery cells in the form of a relatively thin and/or generally flat shape. Compared to typical cylindrical battery cells in a metallic case, the shape of pouch battery cells allows for greater packing efficiency with less weight. However, pouch battery cells may get too hot, swell, and/or catch on fire. Exposure to high temperatures and humidity may shorten the life of pouch battery cells. Pouch battery cells may also be less efficient in thermal management than cylindrical battery cells in a metallic case. In addition, emerging rigid prismatic battery cells made of composite-epoxy can help share structural loads and even more readily integrate into a structurally-integrated battery pack than pouch cells. These batteries have similar theoretical packing efficiency to pouch cells but with greater cooling difficulties, along with potential for additional toxic emissions from melting of the epoxy bonding agent during thermal runaway. In addition thickness of these cells is limited by the need to allow heat to escape.